TAURINI, an ancient Ligurian people, although the name may be of Celtic origin, who occupied the upper valley of the Padus (Po) in the centre of the modern Piedmont. In 218 B.e. they were attacked by Hannibal, with whose friends the 'Insubres they had a long-standing feud, and their chief town (Taurasia) was captured after a three days' siege (Polybius iii. 6o, 8). As a people they are rarely mentioned in history. It is not known when they definitely became subject to the Romans, nor when the colony of (Julia) Augusta Taurinorum (Torino, Turin) was founded in their territory (probably by Augustus after the battle of Actium). Both Livy (v. 34) and Strabo (iv. p. 209) speak of the country of the Taurini as including one of the passes of the Alps, which points to a wider use of the name in earlier times.
See H. Nissen, Italische Landeskunde, ii. (1902), p. 163; and ancient authorities quoted in A. Holder, Altceltischer Sprachschatz, ii. (1904).